Hyundai Hates To See 'Burn Notice' Fade Into Miami Sunset

Fiona Glenanne and her old Genesis Coupe. (Photo by ChronicConsumer.com)

Hyundai has had a great marketing partnership with Burn Notice for three years. And as the USA Network spy drama speeds to the end of its final season this summer, Hyundai wants to make sure its sponsorship goes out with a bang, not a whimper.

"We're sorry to see the show go," David Matathia, director of marketing communications for Hyundai USA, told me. "It's been a great platform for us."

And specifically, Matathia said, Burn Notice has provided a "great showplace for the capabilities of the Genesis Coupe" that is driven by the character Fiona Glenanne, girlfriend of the spy protagonist Michael Westen -- and a pretty good cloak-and-dagger practitioner herself. "We've been able to have that deep integration and really show off what the car can do."

To that end, the show and the automaker have created a higher-profile role than ever for the Genesis Coupe. Glenanne, played by Gabrielle Anwar, long has been seen behind the wheel in the show's many demanding chase scenes in Miami, but the treatment of the car in this last go-round of Burn Notice has been elevated considerably. And it's not just a matter of swapping a new Tsukuba Red number for her previous blue one.

For one thing, there have been a few scenes in Burn Notice this season like the recent chase that could have served as all but the script for a Genesis advertisement. Trying to follow an elusive bad guy through the streets of Miami, Glenanne's passenger worries that she's "driving like Mario Andretti" to keep up with them.

"What are you talking about?" she quips. "Mario Andretti never had a car like this." It's a miracle the Hyundai logo doesn't materialize on the screen afterward.

And there's the infomercial interview with Anwar that USA Network plays during a commercial space in each episode, a personality spot in which she reveals that she likes yoga and is a mother. And she offers, "Fiona is quite chic. I suppose there's a similarity with her Hyundai Genesis Coupe." The flashy Genesis shimmers in the background. "There's a sense of speed and freedom [with the car] which I do rather enjoy."

The car may be red, but that's product-placement gold. No wonder Hyundai is going to miss it.